CSPA Submits Rebuttal Testimony in Part I of WaterFix Hearing

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance et al. (CSPA, CWIN and AquAlliance) joined the County of San Joaquin and Local Agencies of the North Delta in submitting rebuttal testimony in Part I of the State Water Resource Control Board’s (SWRCB) evidentiary hearing on the California Waterfix project proposed by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). The project would construct two huge tunnels to siphon Sacramento River water under the Delta for export to southern California. Part I of the hearing is focused on water rights and harm to legal users of water and Part II will address fish & wildlife and public trust issues. CSPA participated in Part I because we hold riparian water rights at Collinsville.

CSPA secured the services of Mark Del Piero, a professor of water law and former Vice-Chairman of the SWRCB (1992-1999), to testify that the WaterFix project would harm existing water users and that DWR and USBR would need to obtain new water right permits. Mr. Del Piero’s twenty-seven-page rebuttal declaration eloquently describes the over-appropriation of water in California and that proponent’s need to apply for new water rights, as the project’s existing rights have expired. He discusses the lack of an adequate project description, the failure of proponents to provide required water availability and “no injury” analyses and that the project will, in fact, grievously harm and cause injury to existing legal users of water. The law prohibits the SWRCB from granting a change in point of diversion if the change would harm existing water users. Brandon Nakagawa, San Joaquin County’s Water Resources Coordinator, provided rebuttal testimony on proponent’s failure to identify the legal users of groundwater within the project area and how the project will harm legal users and uses of groundwater.

During direct testimony in Part I, CSPA et al. provided eight expert witnesses that provided extensive testimony regarding the WaterFix project’s myriad inadequacies and how construction and operation will irreparably injure legal users of water. We will be an integral participant in Part II and the inevitable subsequent legal challenges.

Del Piero Rebuttal Testimony [Note: the testimony appears with deletions because the hearing officers ordered Mr. Del Piero to save all discussion of impacts to fish and wildlife and the public trust for Part II of the hearing.]